The first day in Guatemala

A man selling flowers on the street in Guatemala City, shot through the window of my shuttle from the airport to Antigua.

Graffiti on a wall in Antigua.

A woman begs on a street in Antigua.

The courtyard of La Fonda de la Calle Real in Antigua, a restaurant featuring traditional Guatemalan dishes that my guidebook recommended.

A woman walking on the street in Antigua.

A long exposure taken from the rooftop terrace of my hotel, Hotel Posada La Merced.

Another long exposure as I watched the sunset from the roof of my hotel.

So thus begins another travel adventure. My internship at the Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus has come to an end and I'm on to something entirely different.

Today was an incredibly long day... since it was really two days. On Tuesday I said goodbye to my family and after a quick visit with friends in DeKalb I got dropped off at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago by my dear brother Garrett and his friend Issac. I took off from a frozen Chicago at 5:30 a.m. today and after a transfer in Houston I arrived in Guatemala City around 12:30 p.m. It was sun and cloud cover on and off and at least in the 70s. Winter pwned. I walked out of the airport and went with the first guy offering an airport endorsed shuttle to Antigua Guatemala (better known just as Antigua). I ended up sharing the shuttle with the lady I sat next to on the plane and her group who were all going to a 10 day yoga retreat on the other side of the lake I'll be living on (Lago Atitlan). The shuttle cost $10 and dropped me right at my hotel. It couldn't have worked out better.

Once I locked my things up in my hotel room I went out wandering the streets to convert some money into Quetzales ($1 US = 7.6 Quetzales). It took a crazy long time to find an ATM since all the streets looked relatively the same to me and weren't exactly well marked with street names. It's really different here than it is at home. Everything is built so close together and although most of the buildings in Antigua are relatively architecturally interesting, there are of spots where I can see buildings just sort of thrown together with scrap metal. Antigua is a weird mix of people- indigenous Mayan peoples still dressing in traditional clothing, more western dressing Guatemalans, and tourists- both the hippie backpacker crowd and well off looking older people. Although all the streets look similar they're all endlessly different and I didn't even come close to wandering them all today. I'm definitely going to spend a few days here before flying back home in March- which will also hopefully include a hike up one of the volcanoes accessible from Antigua.

My Spanish is pretty rough but it's getting me by. I was able to put together enough words to ask a few different people directions, including asking a waiter "Donde esta el norte?" Once I knew which direction was north it was a bit easier to navigate the map in my guidebook. So after I ate dinner I just headed back to the hotel, bought some post cards, and watched the sunset from the roof of the hotel.

Since then I have been lounging around recovering from my lack of sleep. I'm meeting Jeanne, my link from home to this whole adventure at the hotel tonight and tomorrow we're traveling to San Juan La Laguna where I'll find out where exactly I'm living and start getting into the volunteer work. It's definitely been an interesting day but I really haven't even begun to touch the surface. Not sure when then next blog post will come since I won't likely have internet access where I'll be living, but I'll get to an internet cafe as soon as I can once I'm a few days into my living situation.

So for now, adios. It has begun.